BALTIMORE -- The Baltimore Police Department is being sued by the family of a 7-year-old boy who was arrested while sitting on a dirt bike.The child, Gerard Mungo Jr., was outside his home last March when an officer allegedly grabbed him by the shirt collar and dragged him off the bike, The Baltimore Sun said Wednesday. Dirt bikes are illegal in Baltimore. After a verbal confrontation with the child's mother, Lakisa Dinkins, Gerard was handcuffed ... [full story]

SEATTLE -- An asbestos victims organization says it has found asbestos in several toys and consumer products sold in the United States.The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization said at least two of three labs hired by the group found asbestos in a toy called the CSI Fingerprint Examination Kit, two brands of children's play clay, powdered cleanser, roof sealers, duct tapes, window glazing, spackling paste and small appliances, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported Wednesday.The group said high ... [full story]

NEW YORK -- A former New York City prosecutor is charged with allegedly using the district attorney's office to help her husband's private law practice.Sandra Fernandez faces up to four years in prison if convicted of the most serious charges of forgery and falsifying records for allegedly using the office to run criminal background checks for her defense attorney husband, the New York Post said Wednesday.She was fired in February by Brooklyn District Attorney Charles ... [full story]

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- A two-hour debate among eight Republican presidential hopefuls in St. Petersburg, Fla., was filled with free-wheeling accusations and denials.The CNN/YouTube debate was Wednesday night, five weeks ahead of the first contest of the 2008 nominating season and topics submitted ranged from immigration, the Iraq war, abortion, gun control and the Bible.Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani locked horns over immigration, each accusing the another of ... [full story]

WASHINGTON -- Rumors from the conservative right and recent poll results suggest the religious background of presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama overshadows his heritage.Obama, a member of the United Church of Christ, is fending off claims circulating among the conservative right that he is a Muslim trained at Islamic schools in Indonesia, The Washington Post said Thursday.Obama, D-Ill., often speaks of his childhood in Indonesia and notes his paternal grandfather was a Muslim.With religious affiliation ... [full story]

WASHINGTON -- Major U.S. airlines are protesting a Transportation Security Administration proposal requiring asking passengers to collect full names and birth dates.Currently, people can book tickets using only a first initial and surname but the TSA wants advance registrations to include the full name, gender and date of birth, USA Today reported.In written comments to the agency, the Air Transport Association, a trade group of major U.S. airlines, the American Society of Travel Agents along ... [full story]

STONEWALL, Texas -- A debate over the accessibility to the estate of former U.S. President Lyndon Johnson has set the National Park Service in opposition to Johnson's daughters.Former Park Service Director George Hartzog met with LBJ's widow to develop a plan to donate the ranch for a Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park but the plan limited access to guided bus tours.Following the death of Lady Bird Johnson on July 11, the National Park Service ... [full story]

WASHINGTON -- A conservative Washington think tank's report claiming U.S. immigration is at its highest level ever has been criticized for not taking benefits into account.The survey was conducted by Steven Camarota, director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates reduced immigration, The New York Times reported.The report said since 2000, 10.3 million immigrants entered the country, bringing the total number -- legal and illegal -- to 37.9 million immigrants.Among the social costs cited ... [full story]

NEW ORLEANS -- The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency said it intends to close trailer camps run for hurricane evacuees by the end of May.FEMA officials said the closures are meant to encourage and assist residents from the trailer camps set up after hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which struck the U.S. Gulf Coast in 2005, to more permanent housing before the next hurricane season, The New York Times reported Thursday."We're with them every step of ... [full story]

WASHINGTON -- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has become a partner in peace negotiations, but is weak.In an interview in Washington with the Israeli Haaretz newspaper as the U.S. summit wound down, Olmert said it was incumbent on him to help shore Abbas up."He is a weak partner, who is not capable, and as (special Middle East envoy) Tony Blair says, has yet to formulate the tools and may not ... [full story]